Archive for the ‘Japanese etiquette and manners’ Category

1. German students trying to be cool

2. Japanese students giggling at everything you say, until it just isn’t flattering anymore, however cute they are

3. Chinese students falling asleep, then making you feel guilty when you do the topic of daily routines in the lesson after you told them off about it and you find out how little sleep they get at night

4. Korean students giving you gifts that are nicer than anything your boyfriend or girlfriend has ever given you and so making you feel guilty that you half ignored them because they were neither too loud nor too shy

5. Belgian students being odd in a completely different way to all the other Belgians let alone the other students and throwing you every time

6. Russian students making instant calculations of your financial worth

7. Spanish students complaining about the food (Ha! And a slice of jambon in a dry baguette is a delicacy??)

8. Brazilian students taking the piss out of the one poor Portuguese guy

9. French students just being so damn French

And that’s me out of stereotypes for a bit, and anyway that list of cultural cliches was not at all what I was planning to write when I sat down at this keyboard. So here goes with the first three sensible points on how cultural differences can affect what you do in the classroom :

1. Strictness
People from different cultures might react differently to giving students the answer key to check their own answers, bumping everyone’s score up in a test, being strict about absenses and lateness of the class register, allowing L1, chit chat when groups have finished early etc.

2. Groups and individuality
Students might be embarrassed by it being obvious that they are a higher or lower level than the rest of the class. You might also find that they will prefer to come to a concensus and report back to the class or teacher through a spokesman. This can also affect the use of competitive games and praising people who do well. They also might not want to reveal personal information that makes them stand out from the crowd.

3. Personal hygiene
There might be differences of sensitivity to body odour and the smell of food on the breath, wearing masks when you have a cold, or blowing your nose in public.

And the other 30 points, which are not only serious but also made the cut and made it into the actual articles, can be found in the TEFL.net article pages here:

15 important cultural differences in the EFL classroom

15 more important cultural differences in the EFL classroom

and the same things specific to Japanese students:

15 cultural differences in the Japanese classroom

And while we’re getting a bit of culture:

15 criteria for a good EFL cultural training lesson

15 more criteria for a good EFL cultural training lesson

and last but not least

The 15 most fun cultural training topics

With many of those ideas being available as worksheets on the new TEFLtastic worksheets culture page:

Cultural training worksheets for EFL classes

That enough culture fer yer?

Japanese- Joushiki

Usual translation- Common sense

Literal translation- Normal style

Real meaning- Learning to do what everyone else does. There is no other expression closer in meaning to the Western idea of “common sense”.

Why did Japanese women blacken their teeth and why did they stop doing it?

Showing your white teeth was thought to be like showing the white of your bones. The blackening liquid was also thought to preserve the teeth. The practice was outlawed in the Meiji era in order to not offend foreign visitors.

If you want anything else Nipponese explained, it might already be on the Japan Explained blog.

Up bright and early on Sunday morning, crisp blue sky, Fuji visible in the distance, no-one but me and the power walking pensioners about, discovered a well-hidden and peaceful little local temple, came back home to sit down with a couple of slices of toast and Marmite, a cup of Yorkshire Tea and the Sunday papers, but… (more…)

As endless fascinating as it is to find more and more differences between Japan and everywhere else I’ve been and then try and explain them, there is a danger involved in always thinking about things that are not the same of coming to the conclusion, like many foreigners and also Japanese do, that the Japanese are so unlike everyone else they are like a different species. In a similar way, when pointing out to students the differences between the language they speak and the language they are learning there is a danger of the overall impression being that the task is impossible or at least that they have to change everything they first think of saying.

So, here is my list of things that seem to be the same everywhere I go:

Universal Japan Part One

Anywhere you will go in the world, including Japan, you will find that:

1. The worst drivers are, in order, white van drivers, taxi drivers and Mercedes drivers.
2. The nouveaux riches have a “certain taste” in clothes and furnishings
3. Older ladies start wearing brighter and brighter colours
4. Older ladies (and some older men) are both the most likely to complain about others’ bad manners and the most likely to have a conversation over the stranger sitting between them, elbow you in the ribs pushing their way onto the train, have a loud and annoying ring tone etc. etc.
5. The posh sometimes like to slum it. In France that meant “rustic cottages” in the grounds of Versailles, and in Japan that meant tea ceremony “huts”
6. Pictures of cats cannot be art
7. Upper class art is complete self-indulgent tosh (e.g. “Why do the cherry blossoms/ So restlessly scatter down?”- part of a Heian era poem, to which I reply poetically, Tales of Genji-style, ”Why don’t you/ Do something useful and get a job”)
8. Religion attracts the best (Kobo Daishi/ Dalai Lama) and the worst (Nichiren/ Pope John Paul II)
9. Most people have always done pilgrimages just for fun
10. Everyone wants democracy, and everyone feels cynical about it once they get it
11. Sometimes having your freedom is a pain in the arse

More coming up in Part Two…

Why is Asian bread so sweet?

No a hundred percent sure about this. It could be that at the time they borrowed the idea from the West it tasted more like this and has stayed the same here while it has changed where it came from, like Japanese curry rice (also sweet). Alternatively, it might have spread from one Asian country with a sweet tooth to the others. In general, though, Asian countries do not have the clear distinction between sweet foods and savoury foods (or even, in Japanese, a word for “savoury”) or between courses. In fact, this could be said to reflect an Eastern avoidance of black and white either/ or distinctions at all.

Japan now fully explained on my new blog, Japanexplained.

Why do love hotels only exist in Japan?

For one thing, the sex industry has a long and illustrious history in Japan, the famous ukiyo-e prints being set in the world of prostitutes that the Edo authorities allowed as a vent for people’s frustration at all the other controls in their lives and so they could enjoy it themselves. The same is probably true of the ruling classes now, although they won’t stand on their lack of principles if the only way to get votes is from a little crackdown. Add in the yakuza links to the LDP, a philosophy of continuous improvement of whatever business you are in and the Japanese skill at ignoring anything they don’t want to see, and there you have it.

Everything else you ever wanted to know about Japan on the Japanexplained blog

The Japanese police have been going round confiscating swords off the common people because only samurai are allowed to have them:*

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200708110101.html

What with the bowing, the seating positions by status, the personal seals, Japan is just as often like going back to the middle ages as it is going into the future- and there is the fun of it. Although my favourite back to the future doesn’t go quite as far back. It’s ”curry rice”, a junk food dish with a flavour I hadn’t tasted since school meals in 1970’s London.

*Only half this sentence is not true

No, not that type of funny Japanese TV. Really genuinely, intentionally surreal, witty, satirical comedy programmes. My particular favourite is Salaryman Neo, NHK, Tues 23:00. Really gets into the absurdity of the average Japanese office, or in fact offices everywhere. Call it “The Office The Sketch Show”, with quite a lot of Monty Python thrown in. Highly recommended.

 Not a particularly representative one, and no subtitles, but here is one example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u_Se6AU1Ik&mode=related&search=

Will try and search out some better ones for you later. My own favourite sketch is “indecisive guy writes email”.

Maybe more accessible is “The Japanese Tradition” by the duo Ramenz. Whole selection here for you to enjoy and me to watch again soon, all with English subtitles:

Origami: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSjtXKsSJQ

Chopsticks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjuD52s0GBs

Sushi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b75cl4-qRE

Apologies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4bMM73-qHo

Along with the bizarre made up stuff, you can also learn some real Japanese traditions. The difficult part is working out which bit is which!

There are more without subtitles, can easily search for Ramenz and Japanese Tradition, or will try and post some more when I’ve got round to seeing all these again.

And because it is physically impossible to talk about Japanese TV without mentioning something unintentionally funny and/ or horrifying, here’s a clip of the swimming pool from hell:

http://www.paulhartrick.com/2007/08/summer-break.html

Why do the Japanese has such a bad reputation for playing hard ball, standing alone and being inflexible during international negotiations?

There is no Japanese, or even Japanese English, translation for the expression “win-win”. In Japan, people are divided into kachi-gumi and make-gumi: the tribes of winners and losers.

A million (well, a hundred) other Japanese explanations on the Japan Explained blog.